Te atua (The God), from the Noa Noa Suite - Paul Gauguin

Gift of the Print and Drawing Club

"Te atua (The God), from the Noa Noa Suite" by Paul Gauguin (1893/94) Wood-block print, printed twice in orange and brown inks, over residual black ink, with wiping and touches of hand-applied black ink, on thin, pale-pink wove paper (faded to tan).

Commentary

"Te atua (The God), from the Noa Noa Suite" by Paul Gauguin (1893/94) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Themes to notice include woodcut. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and D rawings collection. Paul Gauguin is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903. The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as woodcut, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Wood-block print, printed twice in orange and brown inks, over residual black ink, with wiping and touches of hand-applied black ink, on thin, pale-pink wove paper (faded to tan)) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 20.4 × 35.5 cm (8 1/16 × 14 in.); Sheet: 20.7 × 35.7 cm (8 3/16 × 14 1/16 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include woodcut. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/79570

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data